Sunday, 16 March 2014

Opi Glitter Off - another review

First of all: welcome to my new subscribers! I hope you will stick around for a while and enjoy not only my musings on nail polish but also share your thoughts in the comments section!!!

Earlier this week I was wandering through the Douglas store in my town and came across Opi Glitter Off. Now I have never tried a peel off Base Coat before. I have tried of course the foil method to get rid of all that stubborn glitter but soon returned to the true and tried elbow grease method. However Opi nudged me over to trying a peel off Base Coat.

Opi Glitter Off is a Base Coat based on glue and water. Apparently you can mix that all by yourself but frankly, I am not one of those experimental characters - I rather get them all nicely done in a bottle. Also I have to admit, that I am not too worried about ingredients - after all we dye our hair, wear tattoes, brush our teeth with whitening tooth paste - well I could go on forever here, right? So no, I am not reading all those long lists of ingredients, not only because I am too lazy to dig out my reading glasses. But let's get down to the actual post:

Glitter Off applies like a thick ridge filler and right after application it really looks like white thin glue slapped on your nails. It takes a couple of minutes longer to dry than any of my other Base Coats. Once dry, it has this satin finish.

I did not try it with a plain glitter polish yet, but when wearing one of my two favorite ways of wearing glitter - this would be over a cream.

I applied two coats of Picture Polish Honey Dew. That cream went on awesomely over Glitter Off, a lot less streaky on the first coat already and I am even under the impression that it sped up dry time. Additional and unexpected bonus: Some of my nails are badly ridged - Glitter Off is the best ever ridge filler I tried. Honey Dew was smooth and even after two regular coats (with my regular base coat I always had to go for a third coat). I then dabbed/painted one coat of Different Dimension Love is an Open Door - a clear based glitter with white, turquoise and turquoise holo glitter in small size, relatively big round glitters, half moons, silver holo hearts and white snowflakes (or let's call them flowers, since we are now mid March). I applied two coats of Glisten&Glow HK Girl for a smooth finish. The above picture was taken after two days!

I wore this mani for two full days, washed my hair, my dishes, did some cleaning without gloves, was at work (and I type all day there), went to sports and had only two minor chips at the edges of my nails - a normal occurrence if I do cleaning without gloves and do sports that include dealing with handles.

Removal: It was very easy to lift the whole polish package at the base of my nails. As you can see in the picture, I could push down the polish pretty evenly. However, it did not come off in one piece but rather in chunks, but no scratching or poking was needed. I peeled it off with the nail of my thumb but you can also use a nail tool of course. I was quite surprised to find my nails softly shining underneath, the surface totally smooth and intact. - The picture shows my nails more stained than they actually are. There was only very small residue along the sides of my nails that went off easy peasy with my regular nail polish remover. On my less ridged nails, the polish peeled off in one piece, the more ridged, the more snippets there were. However, it still takes some time to peel the polish off, certainly longer than if you swipe off a regular cream, but still quite faster than using elbow grease or the foil method.

Final thoughts: So far I am totally sold on this Base Coat. I yet have to try it over a plain glitter polish though. I will also try Glitter Off as Base Coat for some of my streaky pastels - wouldn't it be awesome if those challenging polishes would morph from painful to apply to pleasure to apply, well maybe that is a tad steep, but still?

AMENDMENT 1: OK so I feel like I have to add some more information after having worn Opi Glitter Off as Base for 4 am in the morning. My experience with this mani was rather different from the above. The polish literally flaked off from my index but mind you - stuck like concrete on some of the other fingers. I ended up peeling snippets from my nails. Analysis: I GUESS the coats of Glitter Off need to have a PARTICULAR thickness - too thin will make the base adhesive but renitent for peeling off. Too thick and you find yourself with a half naked nail hours after application and without ANY effort from your side. Final thoughts revisited 1: what a different experience - I am annoyed!!! I am sorry if any of you already invested in this and experienced also some flaking off!!! Apparently it makes the world of a difference first how thick your layers are and second what polish you slap on. 4am in the morning is NOT a plain cream AND dries to a satin finish. The Picture Polish held rock solid.............. le sigh.... I haven't gotten the faintest idea.

I yet have to try it over a plain glitter or glassfleck. Once I have those checked off my list, I will get some more amendments added here.

14 comments:

I still have some back up bottles of the discontinued Essence peel off basecoat at home (I should start to use them, before they dry out). If you ever have troubles removing a peel off base: I always remove it under the shower or in the tub, hot water makes removal so much easier :-)

Thank you for the tip! Oh removal wasn't to bad, I wasn't too bad - I was slouched on my sofa watching some series... ;-P! I cannot believe that Essence discontinued a working product - AGAIN!!! Oh well, I am sticking with that Opi for now, and should get a pastel on my nails to test my theory ;-)

Interesting! I've had reservations about the whole glue as basecoat thing simply because, well, what do you do, shmear a drop of Elmer's around on your nail? And I've never tried the foil method because soaking my entire fingertip in acetone for a full five minutes just sounds awful. I'm not concerned with the list of ingredients in this, either-- I eat well and exercize and if any one chemically based anything I apply topically is going to kill me, it's going to be my daily use of perfume ;) Bottom line, I'm totally getting this. I'd love to enjoy wearing glitters more regularly. Great review, sis. Oh, and Honeydew? STUNNING on you.

Hi sis!! Thank you so much <3!!! Indeed the foil method sucks - and I agree, I try to eat healthy (there's always that odd piece of pastry) and do exercise so yes - I totally see what you mean! Did you see Ina's comment below? Quick drying Top Coat? I have to try this too!!!

Oh and forgot to mention - Honey Dew shows a serious dent in my bottle! I was surprised to see that I must have given it quite some mileage on my nails - I have to consider Honey Dew when talking favorites next time - LOL!

Most of the time the removal is just like for the peel off bases, you could lift a whole "nail" of polish :D If it's still stuck, take some cotton pads and remover. To make it even easier to peel off (the quick drying Top Coat that is) you could experiment with a little bit of oil or hand creme on the nails before you put on the quick drying Top Coat. For the Peel Off bases I've tried Innisfree, IsaDoras and Essence. But I think I find the quick drying Top Coats more handy because they dry so fast :D

Well color me astonished, but I had no idea OPI made this. And I'm with Liesl...I am totally getting this. Sometimes I want to use one of my glitters, but then I put it back because just the thought of busting out the foil makes me wince. Works well but takes forever. As a matter of fact, I will usually only wear glitter polish when I'm going off for the weekend because I know it won't chip. HOWEVER, once I pick this baby up...I can change my glitters as easily as my outfits! :) Thanks for the wonderful review! <3

Thank you Melissa but beware - I had a quite contradictiory experience with this when wearing it under an Opi shade no less. I will update the post today, I think one needs to slap on at least medium thick coats, thin ones don't do the job. And I also would like to refer to Ina's comment about using quick drying Top Coat. I will give it some more nail time with other brands to check its versatility!

You've done a fabulous, thorough review here, my dear! And I honestly didn't know OPI was making this kind of base now too. I keep forgetting to add Nail Pattern Boldness's Glitter A Peel to my cart when I buy things on Llarowe, so maybe I'll just get this! Glitters are so amazing and fun, but oy, such a pain in the rear to take off! Ironically, I did do exactly what Liesl mentioned; take some Elmer's glue & shmear a drop on my nails! LOL It didn't work very well... I think the coat would have to be thicker. I also tried the glue mixed with water and no, again, not thick enough. That is a very fun, wintry glitter you chose for this review!!! :D And perfect for it, since it has those huge, evil dots, hearts, and snowflakes. :O Honey Dew totally reminds me of Pure Ice Home Run! which I just bought the other day and used for our surprise group post this week. ;)

Thank you dear Emily!!! I have to try that NPL too - as the Opi has lost some of its magic last week - I need to add this to the above post!!! Wow - you did the glue thing!!! I yet have to try it. Check-out Ina's comment on using fast drying Top Coat - this might be a good option too (well this being Ina suggesting it I am sure of it, but I haven't tried for myself). I so look forward to our post - I am super exited - all I give away here is, thet I choose Picture Polish ;-)!!!

I just read your amendment and revised final thoughts. :( What a sad and FRUSTRATING discovery! Grrrr. I hate when it seems I've discovered something clever to save time or money or what have you, and then it turns out to be nowhere near as great as I originally thought. :-/ I am sorry this OPI base is giving you troubles! But I greatly appreciate that you've shared your honest experience so that I and others can avoid it. The fast drying topcoat DOES sound like an interesting idea... we should try it! ;) Ooooh you are using a Picture Polish?! I'm very very excited to see which one...could it be another from the same collection as Aurora?!! (which by the way is sold out EVERYWHERE. I just looked. :( Oh well.)

Thank you so much hon not only for taking the time to read my amendment but also for your sweet comment - yes, this really sucks. Maybe my post can give some helpful information to others. At the same time, I wonder how much one's nail chemistry influences the behaviour - I bet if you ask the companies, they will deny any impact. Re Aurora - it will be back soon - I think at least with Picture Polish itself and you can order all the way from Australia. To make the shipping fee more bearable make sure to check-out their Everyday Deals ;-). nope, nothing of that new collection ;-P